China now has more billionaires than any other country, according to the latest Hurun Global Rich List, released Thursday by the Shanghai-based Hurun Group.
The country is home to 1,110 billionaires out of 4,020 globally, overtaking the United States. China added 287 new billionaires since last year, more than recovering losses from the past three years.
“The concentration of economic power continues,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Group, as quoted by South China Morning Post.
“Billionaires are at world-record numbers, largely on the back of surging global stock markets, with AI leading the charge, and China’s going global.”
Artificial intelligence played a key role in wealth creation in China, producing two new billionaires: Yan Junjie of MiniMax, with $3.6 billion, and Liu Debing of Knowledge Atlas Technology JSC, also known as Zhipu, with $1.2 billion.
Globally, AI produced 114 billionaires, including 46 newcomers, making it the single largest generator of new billionaires.
China’s new billionaires were largely driven by industrial products, semiconductors, healthcare, and energy. Chen Weiliang of MetaX Integrated Circuits and Zhang Jianzhong of Moore Threads Technology led the semiconductor sector, with $4.7 billion and $4.6 billion, respectively.
In healthcare, Au Yat-Gai of Regencell Bioscience topped the list with $13 billion. The electric vehicle battery sector fueled growth in the energy industry.
Three-quarters of China’s billionaires were not on the list a decade ago, reflecting rapid shifts in wealth creation. “Wealth was created faster last year than at any point in the Hurun Global Rich List’s history. We saw a record of over 700 new faces – that’s two a day for every day of the last year,” said Hoogewerf.
The global list grew by a net 578 billionaires over the past year. The United States ranked second with 1,000 billionaires, up by 130, while India came third with 308, followed by Germany with 171, overtaking the UK.
Top spots remained with US tech giants. Elon Musk at $792 billion, Jeff Bezos of Amazon at $300 billion, and Larry Page of Alphabet at $281 billion. Musk became the first person to surpass $700 billion.
Musk, 54, reclaimed his title as the world’s wealthiest individual for the fifth time in six years, with his net worth rising 89 per cent, largely due to Tesla stock doubling to US$411 and SpaceX preparing for a record-setting IPO.
By city, New York remained the world’s billionaire capital with 146 residents, followed by Shenzhen with 132, Shanghai, Beijing, and London. Hong Kong ranked seventh with 88 billionaires, including Li Ka-shing and his eldest son, Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, who are listed together at 54th.
The average age of billionaires globally is 65. The report also noted 42 billionaires born in China who now live in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia, as well as in the United States.
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